Biography

Since he emerged in the counter-culture sixties, Stewart Brand has been a force in the world for giving access to the information needed to make the planet a better place.

Mr. Brand is the president of The Long Now Foundation, established to creatively foster long-term thinking and responsibility in the framework of the next 10,000 years. He leads a project there called Revive and Restore, which seeks to bring back extinct animal species such as the passenger pigeon and woolly mammoth.

Brand is well known for founding, editing and publishing the “Whole Earth Catalog” (1968-85), which received a National Book Award for the 1972 issue. In 1984, he founded The WELL (Whole Earth ‘Lectronic Link), a computer teleconference system for the San Francisco Bay Area. It now has 11,000 active users worldwide and is considered a bellwether of the genre. He was also a co-founder and managing director of Global Business Network, a scenario strategy consulting business, where he worked with leading companies and public institutions on their futures.

Brand has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the Santa Fe Institute, an interdisciplinary center studying the sciences of complexity, since 1989. He received the Golden Gadfly Lifetime Achievement Award from the Media Alliance, San Francisco in the same year. He was a founding member of the Board of Directors of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an organization which supports civil rights and responsibilities in electronic media, and is an acting advisor to Ecotrust, the Portland-based preservers of temperate rain forests from Alaska to San Francisco.

Brand is the author of many pioneering books including “SALT Summaries: Condensed Ideas About Long-term Thinking” (Long Now Press, August 2011), and “Whole Earth Discipline: An Ecopragmatist Manifesto” (Viking Adult, October 2009), in which Stewart tackles controversial issues such as nuclear power, genetic engineering, and geoengineering. He has advocated nuclear power as a responsible strategy to address power demand in the face of the stark reality of global warming. His seminal essay on this topic, entitled “Environmental Heresies”, appeared in the MIT Technology Review in May 2005. Other books include “The Clock Of The Long Now” (Basic Books, April 2000), “How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They’re Built” (Penguin, October 1995), “The Media Lab: Inventing the Future at MIT” (1987), and “Two Cybernetic Frontiers: Both Sides of the Necessary Paradox” (1974). It had the first use of the term “personal computer” in print and was the first book to report on computer hackers.

Stewart Brand is available for paid speaking engagements. including keynote addresses, speeches, panels, and conference talks, and advisory/consulting services, through the exclusive representation of Stern Speakers, a division of Stern Strategy Group®.

Biography

Since he emerged in the counter-culture sixties, Stewart Brand has been a force in the world for giving access to the information needed to make the planet a better place.

Mr. Brand is the president of The Long Now Foundation, established to creatively foster long-term thinking and responsibility in the framework of the next 10,000 years. He leads a project there called Revive and Restore, which seeks to bring back extinct animal species such as the passenger pigeon and woolly mammoth.

Brand is well known for founding, editing and publishing the “Whole Earth Catalog” (1968-85), which received a National Book Award for the 1972 issue. In 1984, he founded The WELL (Whole Earth ‘Lectronic Link), a computer teleconference system for the San Francisco Bay Area. It now has 11,000 active users worldwide and is considered a bellwether of the genre. He was also a co-founder and managing director of Global Business Network, a scenario strategy consulting business, where he worked with leading companies and public institutions on their futures.

Brand has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the Santa Fe Institute, an interdisciplinary center studying the sciences of complexity, since 1989. He received the Golden Gadfly Lifetime Achievement Award from the Media Alliance, San Francisco in the same year. He was a founding member of the Board of Directors of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an organization which supports civil rights and responsibilities in electronic media, and is an acting advisor to Ecotrust, the Portland-based preservers of temperate rain forests from Alaska to San Francisco.

Brand is the author of many pioneering books including “SALT Summaries: Condensed Ideas About Long-term Thinking” (Long Now Press, August 2011), and “Whole Earth Discipline: An Ecopragmatist Manifesto” (Viking Adult, October 2009), in which Stewart tackles controversial issues such as nuclear power, genetic engineering, and geoengineering. He has advocated nuclear power as a responsible strategy to address power demand in the face of the stark reality of global warming. His seminal essay on this topic, entitled “Environmental Heresies”, appeared in the MIT Technology Review in May 2005. Other books include “The Clock Of The Long Now” (Basic Books, April 2000), “How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They’re Built” (Penguin, October 1995), “The Media Lab: Inventing the Future at MIT” (1987), and “Two Cybernetic Frontiers: Both Sides of the Necessary Paradox” (1974). It had the first use of the term “personal computer” in print and was the first book to report on computer hackers.

Stewart Brand is available for paid speaking engagements. including keynote addresses, speeches, panels, and conference talks, and advisory/consulting services, through the exclusive representation of Stern Speakers, a division of Stern Strategy Group®.

Speech Topics

Dawn of De-Extinction: Are We Ready?

Throughout humankind’s history, we’ve driven species after species extinct: the passenger pigeon, the Eastern cougar, the dodo … But now, says Stewart Brand, we have the technology (and the biology) to bring back species that humanity wiped out. So — should we? Which ones? He asks a big question whose answer is: closer than you may think.

City Planet

A billion people now live in squatter cities, with two billion more coming. The world’s rampant urbanization and squatter cities are major news, and surprisingly good news at that, both economically and environmentally.

The Long Now

Taking the long view on the impact of humans on the planet. Once you have the perspective of decades and centuries, problems that seemed unsolvable become solvable, and pressing urgencies fade away to expose what is crucial.

The Greening of Nuclear Power

Climate change is so catastrophic environmentally that everything must be done to head off its worst effects, including expanding nuclear power.